“HOW do you end a chapter of your life that has defined you for over 20 years, when the conclusion to that chapter seems very much unresolved?”

Thus begins a heartfelt video journal by Stuart Holden released this week, which will have struck a chord with anyone connected to Bolton Wanderers.

To anyone who hasn’t viewed it online, the American midfielder chronicles the last few months of his rehabilitation from knee surgery as he approaches a crossroads in his footballing career.

As you’d expect from someone as media savvy as Holden it’s a slick production. But more importantly it’s brutally honest; the 29-year-old does not hide away from the fact an acid test is on the horizon.

Someday soon he’ll step foot back on a football pitch and know in his heart whether his journey continues as a player, or something different.

I’m not going to retread the list of injuries, even though I have a file on my desktop listing them in chronological order for easy access. And nor am I going to blow smoke up his backside and bang on about what a thoroughly decent fella he has been to deal with over the last five-and-a-half years – this isn’t his footballing obituary.

“I’m sick of the narrative, the Stuart Holden comeback,” he says in the video. “If I was writing about it, I’d have stopped a long time ago.”

I have certainly tried but such has been the appetite among Wanderers fans for news it has been difficult to do so. I, for one, cannot make mention of his name on Twitter without receiving a flurry of replies asking when he’ll be back in a Bolton shirt. Goodness knows what sort of feedback he gets from 400,000 followers on both sides of the pond, not to mention his legion of Facebook friends.

“If I post anything other than pictures of me doing my workout, people are like ‘you’re not working hard enough,’ and I really want to invite them into the gym and yell mean Tweets at them and see how they do,” he said, hinting at some of the frustration.

Part of me thinks that if he is to return to football, he’d be better off in the Himalayas somewhere, away from cameras and social media.

The pressure to fulfil the fairytale return at Bolton – both external and internal – could be portrayed as unhealthy. I think it forced him back earlier than it should last time around and I dearly hope lessons have been learned.

When Holden’s deal at the Macron expired last year, the club muddied the waters by stating they had agreed with him ‘non-contract terms’ – something that never sat well with me.

I can understand the reasoning. It would have looked callous to release a player who had given so much to represent the Whites. But a clean break – pardon the pun – was what was needed and it’s important to note that he is no longer employed by Wanderers in any way, shape or form.

This comeback effort has been off his own back, at his own pace, minus the added expectation. And I hope he benefits from the distance.

Yes, there is an open offer from Neil Lennon to come back if he feels ready for Championship football, but that decision is just a little down the road.

First, he has to get through that first few weeks outside the bubble of the gym, the first sprints with his team-mates on grass, the first turn and tackle in training. These are the hurdles every injured player longs to negotiate and once he’s made that step, perhaps then we can talks the nuts and bolts of resuming a career.

Holden’s wife Karalyn sums it up nicely: “His positivity is so infectious and it consumes you.

“You can’t help but smile and say ‘it’s going to be okay’ - even though it’s scary and part of you is going: ‘But is it going to be okay?”

Of course the same thoughts have crossed everyone’s mind. But as the old adage goes, where there’s a will, there’s a way. And they don't come much more willing than Stuart Holden.

If you haven't seen the video for yourself, here is a link...